Obama cheers cliff deal, won't debate debt limit

LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- President Barack Obama vowed again Tuesday night not to negotiate in connection with raising the U.S. legal debt limit. Obama made the remarks after the House of Representatives passed a deal to undo much of the fiscal cliff of austerity measures that began going into effect at the start of the year. Obama thanked Democratic and Republican leaders for approving the deal, but he added that "we all recognize this law is just one step" in dealing with U.S. debt problems. The U.S. officially reached its legally mandated borrowing limit Monday, according to the Treasury, which has taken special measures to avoid a default until the debt limit can be raised. But Obama stated Tuesday that he wouldn't engage in negotiations over raising the limit, saying "we can't not pay bills we have already incurred." A partisan tussle over extending the debt limit in 2011 resulted in Standard & Poor's downgrading the U.S. credit rating.

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